HC sets aside stay on termination of U’khand assembly ad hoc employees
: A division bench of Uttarakhand high court on Thursday set aside the orders of the single bench which put a stay on the termination of service of 228 ad hoc employees of Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha. The division bench comprising Justice Vipin Sanghi, and Justice Ramesh Chandra Khulbe passed the order.
Parikshit Saini, the counsel representing the Vidhan Sabha secretariat, said, “The high court quashed the single bench order that put a stay on termination of ad hoc Vidhan Sabha employees. The honorable court clearly said that those appointed through the back door can’t say they can’t be terminated.”
On October 15, Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari had put a stay on the termination of the appointments. Against the order, the Vidhan Sabha secretariat had approached the division bench.
These employees, who were allegedly appointed through “back door” during then speakers Prem Chand Aggarwal and Govind Singh Kunjyal on an ad hoc basis, were terminated on September 23 on the basis of a report by an expert committee, constituted by speaker Vidhan Sabha Ritu Khanduri Bhushan, that said their appointments were “against rules”. The threemember inquiry panel led by retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer DK Kotia was asked to look into the matter after the opposition Congress alleged that finance minister Prem Chand Aggarwal, during his tenure as the assembly speaker during 2017-2022, appointed relatives and people linked to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the secretariat. The panel submitted its report to the speaker on September 22. The decision was a setback to finance minister Aggarwal who defended the appointments made during his tenure as assembly speaker.
Of the recruitment of 228 officials who were removed, 150 were appointed in 2016 when Congress leader Govind Singh Kunjwal was the assembly speaker and Harish Rawat was chief minister. Six officials were recruited in 2020 and 72 in 2021. Prem Chand Aggarwal, who is now the finance minister in the Pushkar Singh Dhami cabinet, was the assembly speaker between 2017 and 2022.
Over 100 employees who lost their jobs had approached the court challenging the decision.
Avtar Singh Rawat, one of the counsels for the terminated employees, said, “We will approach the Supreme Court against the decision of the high court’s division bench.”
“If the Vidhan Sabha speaker wants to cancel appointments, she should cancel all since the formation of the state, including those who have now been regularized. It’s a selective approach and implies inequality,” he said.
Welcoming the order, Uttarakhand assembly speaker Ritu Khanduri said, “Justice has prevailed. I am pleased with the honourable court’s order. I was fighting for the system and rules and regulations, not against any individual”
She added, “The appointments made before 2012 were permanent unlike ad hoc which have been cancelled. 182 are permanent appointments. However, I have already made it clear that even the legality of permanent appointments are under examination.”
The state unit of the Congress accused the speaker of “resorting to selective approach by cancelling back door appointments but not saying a word on speakers who appointed them”.
Congress state spokesperson Garima Dasauni said, “The speaker cancelled the ad hoc appointments made through the back door but what about action against who opened the back door? If then speaker Prem Chand Aggarwal made illegal appointments, why not take any action against him? It’s clearly a selective approach. It’s fathomable that they want to save those from the ruling party. If RSS can act against its two office bearers for the same reason, why the BJP can’t.”
Reacting to allegations, BJP media in-charge Manveer Singh Chauhan said, “Vidhan Sabha is a constitutional institution and the matter is in court. Hence, we can’t say much about it. But I want to ask Congress, did they act against their speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal who made illegal appointments? The opposition party says anything for political reasons.”
On September 23, speaker Ritu Khanduri Bhushan had proposed cancelling all ad hoc appointments made since 2016 on the suggestions of a threemember expert committee that found “irregularities” in them and against rules and regulations. The government subsequently approved the proposal.
As many as 150 hoc appointments made in 2016 during the term of then speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal, six ad hoc appointments made in 2020, and 72 ad hoc appointments made in 2021 during thenspeaker speaker Prem Chand Aggarwal’s term. Aggarwal is currently the finance minister in the BJP-led Dhami government.
No constitution of a committee for selection, no advertisement, no public notice for appointments, and no names sought from the employment exchanges were listed as the reasons in its suggestions for cancellation of appointments, the speaker had said.